Evolution

A seed was planted in me in 1983 to explain to people how dishes come together. This idea woke me up in the middle of the night and with fertile soil and much fussing over for the past 30 years, with much testing and astonishing results from its simplicity, The Natural Cook® training is positioned to bloom in the hearts and homes of conscious people world-wide.

The International Academy of Natural Cookery uses our system of cooking intuitively and has trained hundreds of personal chefs and bakers that cook for the established elite, politicians, movie stars, as well as the frail, overwhelmed and health challenged people of all ages. We know two things: Whole food is healing in the hands of a conscious cook, but only when tastes and textures fit the customer, people at the table.

Like a parent passing on secrets to children the ecstatic joy of teaching people to cook intuitively is very satisfying. Teachers experience their students waking up. Training people to integrate an infusion of the magic of cooking is deliciously satisfying as a certified teacher of The Natural Cook system.

Teachers find a way bring their own personality into presentations of this “language of cooking without recipes”. But the videos in the online classroom come from me. It is my way sharing the garden from the seeds that were planted in me years ago. It is the source of our authentic Natural Cook system.

I know the word “natural” is overused and people are tired of hearing it. That’s too bad. Nature is one of the most powerful phenomena we can have the pleasure of living with. This simple seven letter word encompasses more than seven kinds of intelligence (auditory, visual, kinesthetic, interpersonal, extra-personal, mathematical and verbal.) It is also represented by elements that we need to survive (water, fire, earth, ether, wood, and metal) and includes seven chakras that intuitively guide us (root, reproductive, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye and crown.) A natural being is big. Cooking from our wholeness consciously satisfies us inside and out.

The Natural Cook training is not a cooking class. It is a training that formats a life-long relationship with the ease of cooking ingredients that don’t come in boxes. Intimacy with ingredients that from come from field, stream, and gardens.

You accomplish three things from this training.
Knowledge – on how ingredients work with each other in cooking methods that are easy.

Experience – from studying five theories of cooking and 8 – 20 cooking methods daily, weekly, or monthly.

Confidence – because compliments come your way when you and your friends and family eat your dishes that you prepared without recipes. You will know how make anything real taste good and place it in a balanced meal.

This is important because we need to be in charge of our health and health begins with having control of the food we eat. It is also a way to contribute to a better environment, not just our physical bodies, the earth’s body.

Does it cost more to eat real food than food from boxes? Possibly. But the value is in long term health and environmental sustainability. Like an insurance plan, we can use real food to take care of us and spend less time out of the doctor’s offices. Bet you didn’t think of your doctor visits as a food cost. Cavities and medications cost a lot in pain and suffering too. Building strong bodies through nature engages our creativity and heals multiple layers of being.

I don’t call myself a “Chef ” although I know could create almost any dish given a primary element, some salt and water.

The word “chef” feels bloated by the food network.  Webster’s Dictionary defines the term as “a skilled cook who manages the kitchen.”  The key word here is “manages.”  The more accurate term is “Chef de Cuisine”  because the French translation for “Chef ” is “chief, manager, or person in charge.”   “Chef de cuisine” has a historical precedent since 1840 for people who manage a commercial or public kitchen.  This is not a job for the faint of heart and I can see why the term Chef carries an image of respect.

So technically, are personal/private cooks entitled to the use the term “Chef”?  Can they lean on the powerful image that is conjured up in the public’s mind?  Do modern day Chefs ride the “fake it till you make it” facade?

Modern language for current times accounts for our titles of Personal Chef and Private Chef. The words personal and private indicate an intimacy of working for a person, small business or family.  As personal/private chef we take charge and manage meals, kitchens, and co-ordinate events.  We become chief directors of the timing, service, budget, food management and creations.  A one person operation.  And who do we manage? Ourselves. We strive to be calm and balanced, sensitive to our client’s needs without loosing our own.  Historically only the rich had personal/private chefs.  But today an accelerated need for special diets and improved quality of ingredients than what is available commercially, has opened the door for a different kind of Chef de Cuisine.  If we use the word “Chef” people expect a professionalism.  But only the “Chef” knows whether they can manage the job or not.

The International Academy of Natural Cookery strives to create graduates through a one of a kind personal chef training where upon completion they have the tools to be confident in managing situations they find themselves in.  The spontaneous moments of cooking are supported by a strong knowledge-based foundation.  Through our program we can offer families quality dishes for a similar cost as dining out. A personal chef graduate from our program easily wears the hat of “manager.”

Do you notice when your dishes are mild or spicy?  Somedays more one that the other.  I see the personality of people in the dishes they create.  Generally, I prefer to cook a simple group of ingredients and focus on the technique of the cooking method to make them shine.  But lately, especially when I am cooking for Mike Duhon (our pastry and gastronomy teacher in the Pro-course) I step out of my comfort zone of simple tastes.  

Braising is my favorite method to add complexity.  It is the perfect method for building long, slow, deep and complex flavors and tastes. The first step uses oil to seal the edges of the primary element.  Once the metal has its way with fire and food, the intensification has begun.  Now the choice of liquids, salts, herbs and spices provides the primary element’s road map. And the story begins to unfold over time, with or without a lid.  Being  a simple, zen-like cook most of the time, a braised dish punctuates my plate and palette.

Grinding my own masalas (spice mix) and having a myriad of cooking liquids on hands helps.  These are the bold days. Usually its when I awake and stand straight first thing in the morning.  Spanish guitar music helps too.

Food and Cooking is one the largest common denominators in our culture. We have adapted to an idolized dependence upon recipes as a way to record and share a favorite dish.  In 1983, I stumbled upon a desire to find a way to communicate the magic of cooking.  In other words, the essence of all cooking, and how to never be bored again.  What a journey it has been.   Julianaa’s Notes is a place for me to share that journey.  A full life of food, love, children, friends, and thousands of students.

Few chefs wear the apron without some passion.  Born a dancer into an artist’s family, my first costume was from Shaharazade, a camisole top with one sleeve and below my midriff was a billowing full circle and half skirt.  The ingredient was emerald green chiffon with silver, sparkly,  bindings – age 11.  Twelve years later, after being healed by whole-food and dancing combined, over time I hatched four amazing people and used food as medicine daily.  Even though I would sometimes be limited to one carrot, one onion and some rice and beans, people seemed to like my food.

I couldn’t support my large family by dancing, but I could cook for people during the day as a personal chef and help the customers at Alfalfa’s Market during the evolution of Natural Foods.  When the store asked me to design a cooking school, I sought to clarify my cooking style in order to teach something authentic and more interesting than just another recipe.   I observed myself working in the kitchen.  What I found was a process that was easy, efficient, accurate enough, highly economical and allowed any cook to adapt a dish to a special diet or just to using what was actually in the cupboard.   I discovered that my cooking style (the same one all great men and women have used for ages when they don’t follow a recipe) was spot on delicious without having to measure.

Measuring a ratio is one thing. But when it comes to infusing a dish with personality, with an extra shot of perfection, not following a recipe is critical.  The Language of Cooking….. without recipes emerged over a 7 year period.  In these 7 years, I tested the theories, carved the names of the verbs and identity of what goes into a dish, any dish.  To my surprise, I found a way to communicate clearly, through  both an artist’s and scientist’s eye/mind,  the power and practice of intuitive cooking.

Julianaa Notes #2

Do you notice when your dishes are mild or spicy?  Somedays more one that the other.  I see the personality of people in the dishes they create.  Generally, I prefer to cook a simple group of ingredients and focus on the technique of the cooking method to make them shine.  But lately, especially when I am cooking for Mike Duhon (our pastry and gastronomy teacher in the Pro-course) I step out of my comfort zone of simple tastes.  

Braising is my favorite method to add complexity.  It is the perfect method for building long, slow, deep and complex flavors and tastes. The first step uses oil to seal the edges of the primary element.  Once the metal has its way with fire and food, the intensification has begun.  Now the choice of liquids, salts, herbs and spices provides the primary element’s road map. And the story begins to unfold over time, with or without a lid.  Being  a simple, zen-like cook most of the time, a braised dish punctuates my plate and palette.

Grinding my own masalas (spice mix) and having a myriad of cooking liquids on hands helps.  These are the bold days. Usually its when I awake and stand straight first thing in the morning.  Spanish guitar music helps too.